Means for lowering and raising submarine airlocks



Nov. 3, 1931. J, ORQURKE 1,830,442

MEANS FOR LOWERING AND RAISING SUBMARINE AIRLOCKS Filed Jan. 50, 1929 2 Sheets-Sheet '1 I ATTORNEY J. F. OROURKE 1,330,442

MEANS FOR LOWERING AND RAISING SUBMARINE AIRLOCKS Filed Jan. 30. 1929 2 Sheeis-Sheet 2 Judi ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 3, 1931 UNITED STATES JOHN F. UROURKE, OF NEW -YORK, N. Y.

MEANS FOR L OWERING AND RAISING SUBMARINE AIRIiOCKS Application filed January 30, 1929. Serial No. 336,147. I

The object of the present invention is to provide means for steadily lowering I or raising a diving airlock, a divers platform, or any other device, from v a vessel, even though the latter is rolling in rough water. The present device makes it possible to lower the diving air lock or other body unaffected by the upward and downward swinging of the boom of the device, due to the movement of the vessel inwhich the device is employed. Heretofore it has been diflicult to operate from a ship which is rolling in rough water in rescue work, because of the difficulty of raising and lowering the diving air lock from the surface vessel on account of the raising and lowering of the boom caused by the movements of the-ship. These move ments cause violent jerks on the hoisting cable and this has made it impracticable to carry on operations duringrough'weather.

I will describe the present invention as applied to the raising and lowering of a diving air lock for rescue work although it will be apparent that the invention may be used for raising and lowering a divers platform or for raising and lowering life saving boats and other bodies. i

I In the present invention I employ a counterweight which is suspended in the bight of'the hoisting cable, which weight is adapted to move up and down with relation to the mast in accordance with the swinging motions of the end of the boom with'relation to the water, caused by the rolling of the ship.

This counterweight is adapted to maintain a practically uniform tension in the hoisting cable so that the submarine airlock may be steadily raised or lowered from the surface vessel. The diving air lock or other body being lowered into or raised from the water is not required to partake of thesudden up In the drawings forming partof this application, V

, Figure 1 is a side view of portion of a surface vesselequipped with my invention and illustrating its use in rescue operation's, I f V Figure 2 is a vertical, sectional View on an enlarged scale, showing the counterweight in its lowermost position withinthe cylinder, Figure 3 is asectional view taken on the line 33 of Figure 2, f v

Figure": is a sectional view taken on the line 4-4 of Figure 7,

,Figure 5 is a perspective View of ofthe cap provided at weight cylinder, v

vFigurefi is a sectionalview taken onthe line 6-6'of Figure 7 with a portion ofthe one half the top of the countercap of the cylinder broken away, i

Figure 7 is an elevation of the mast and boom of the present apparatus with a portion of. the counterweight cylinder broken away, i

Figure 8 is a face view of a portion of the mast showing the position of a, certain sheave and a cheek block,

Figure 9 is a similar view of the outer end of the boom,

Figure 10is a face view of the block which is hung onthe free end of-the boom, and

Figure 11 is a face view of the fall and hook which engages the diving airlock or other body for raising and lowering.

In the drawings I have shown a surface vessel 1 on which the device forming the subject of this invention is placed, and, I have shown a portion of asunken torpedo boat at 2 in which rescue operations may be carried on from a submarine airlock 3 which is raised and lowered from the surface vessel. I have not shown the details of this submarine airlock but reference may be had to'any one of the following co-pending cases to illustrate the type of apparatus which may be used for the purpose; diving apparatus, Ser. N5. 105,676; submarine air lock, Ser; No. 264,521; submarine air lock, Ser. No. 264,523. However, as stated above, the present device may be used for lowering a divers platform or for lowering any other body into or raising it out of the water.

On the deck of the surface vessel there is provided an upwardly extending mast 4 on which various pulleys are arranged, as will be described, and from this mast there extends upwardly a swinging boom 5, these parts being the usual parts of the Vessels derrick. The cylinder for the counterweight is preferably mounted on the mast, as shown in Figures 1 and 7 and it comprises a vertically disposed cylinder '6, preferably of metal, which is set into a collar 7 at its lower end, and the collar is mounted on base 8 attached rigidly to the mast.

The upper end of the cylinder passes through a plate 11 supported on the bars 10 of the clamp 9 which latteris rigidly secured to the mast. In other words, the cylinder is preferably mounted close to and parallel with the mast' The cylinder forms a long, hollow chamber 12 inwhich the counterweight is adapted tomove up and down.

The hoisting cable 13 leads from the engine drum (not shown) on the vessel to the cheek block 14 on the mast, passing aroundthe sheave of the latter and from there it leads downwardly to the pulley 15 and partially around the latter, so that thispulley lies in the biaht of this cable. From there the hoisting cable extends upwardly to a. pulley 16 which is attached to the mast near the cheek block 14 and afterpassing through the sheave of this pulley the cable extends outwa dly and downwardly to the cheek block 17 which is mounted adjacent the outer or free end of the boom '5. After passing partly around the sheave of this check block the cable extends downwardly to the short and stronger cable 18 connected with the topof the diving bell. The cab e 13 just described is the one which controls the raising-and lowering of the diving air lock while'the latter is actually in the water. I provide heavier apparatus for raisingand lowering the diving air lock between the point at which it is subject to the buoyancyof the water and the deck of the surfaceovessel. Suspended from the outer end of theboom there is shown a fall 19 provided with a hook 20 which is adapted to hook into the ring 21 in the end of the heavy cable 18 connected. with the top of the diving air lock and this hook may be readily unhooked from this ring after the diving air lock has been transferred from the deck of the surface vessel to the water. or vice versa. V

The angle of the boom may be controlled through a cable 22 which passes over one of the sheaves 2 3 and thence over a block 24 and thence over a block 25 which latter is attached to the free end of the boom. After passing around the sheave of this block the cable 22 returns to the sheave 26; In other words, the ordinary boom fall for changing the angle of the boom employed in the com mon type of derrick may be used in the pres ent apparatus. The cable 27 passes over another sheave in the top of the mast and thence over a sheave 28 on the end of the boom, and thence around the sheaves of the block 28 and the fall 19. Through this cable the fall 19, which is attached to the submarine airlock, is adapted to be raised and lowered. Because this tackle is required to sustain the full weight of the diving air lock before it is subject to the buoyancy of the water, it has a greater lifting capacity than the cable 13 but cable 27 may be shorter because it is only necessarily employed to cover the movements of the diving air lock between the water and the surface, vessel, whereas the single cable or whip 13 controls its" movements to the extreme submerged position.

The counterweight 29 which is connected 1 with the pulley 15 by means of a short cable 30 is preferably so proportioned that it will exert a tension on the cable 13 slightly greater than the weight, in water, of the diving air lock and its crew. The counterweight is shown constructed as follows. There is an outer shell 81 forming a cylinder in which is a body of heavy material 32, such as lead, and extending the greater part of the length of the cylinder and the upper portion of the cylinder is supplied with a loose filling 33, preferably of lead shot which may be added to or decreased to alter the weight in accordance with any variation in the weight ofthe diving air lock or the members of the crew to be carried with it.

In the lower portion of the chamber 12 in which the weight is adapted to move, there is shown a body of fluid material 34, preferably of mercury, which flows alongside of the counterweight to act as a buffer to cushion the movements of the Weight and reduce the shock on the cable 13. Preferably, only sufficient mercury is used .to float the counterweight just above the bottom of the cylinder 6 which is its lowest position, regardless of the slack in the cable 13. Above andfloating on this body of mercury I have shown a body of oil 35 which acts as a buffer before the counterweight reaches the body of mercury and also lubricates the'chamber 12 by the splashing and contact of the counterweight. The upper end of the cylinder 6 is covered by a two-part cover 36 attachedthereto and provided with a boss 37 through which the cable 30 passes. I r

The weight is normally in air about midway of cylinder 6 when the ship is ,onan even keel, and only reaches the mercury at the bottom during pitching movements of the ship, the mercury efie'ctively preventing the weight reaching the bottom of cylinder 6 and acting as a ram thereagainst during heavy pitching.

; Operation n The first step in the Operation will be the lowering of the diving airlock by means of the tackle and the cable 27ifrom the deck of the surface vessel to the water, and this heavier hoisting apparatus, being designed to support the full weight ofthe diving airlock and its crew, will be effective until the diving airlock has been lowered into the water, at which time the hook 20 may be disengaged from the ring 21 leaving the diving airlock subjectto the controlof the single whip 13 until it is to be again lifted out of the water. It will be understood that the single whip 13 is attached to the ring 21 when the diving airlock is lowered from the vessel to the water. Assuming that the hook 20 has been disengaged from the ring 21, the diving airlock is now subject to the control of the single whip 13 but the strain onthe {cable is less than that exerted on the block and tackle 2819 because the diving airlock is now partially supported by its buoyancy in water. i 7

Assuming that the surface vessel 1 isrolling or pitching, it will be apparent that the boom 5 will rise and fall in relation to the water and if these movementswere transmitted to the diving airlock the cable 13 would be put under extreme stress and the airlock and its crew would be subject to violent motion. In the presentcase, however, as the boom rises and falls in relation to the position of the airlock inthe water, the counterweight 29, which is supported in the bight of the cable 13, can rise and fall instead of the airlock. The counterweight offers much less resistance to the upward motion of the boom than that offered by the airlock and the water above it with their greater inertia, so that the counterweight will automatically moveupwardly, and as it does so it releases a corresponding length of the cable 13 which permits the end of the boom to rise without lifting the airlock. On the other hand, the airlock and the water above it, because of their greater mass and inertia and consequent resistance to motion, prevents the airlock from starting downwardly at the instant the boom commences to swing downwardly or toward the water, and at this time the counterweight moves downwardly, automatically, as quickly as the falling boom relieves the tension from the airlock in the cable 13. In this manner a sup porting tension is maintained in the cable 13 which sustains the diving airlock during the downward swing of the boom. 1 Otherw se, if the cable were allowed to slack it would leave the diving airlock unsupported and allow it to sink until the cable became taut.

If because of extreme conditions the end of the boom should rise or fall with the motionsof the. surface vessel beyond the limits provided for in the travel of the counter weight, the engineer on the surface vessel, by controlling the engine drum, might take in or pay off the, cable 13, as the case may be, to maintain a substantiallyuniform pull from the diving airlock. The counterweightwill a automatically preserve a uniform pull on the cable for a sufficient period to allowthc engineer to supplement the action in the manner described. It will be apparent that the counterweight maintains automatically at substantially uniform tension in the cable 13, which action may be supplemented by the manual control referred to, so that the lowering orhoisting of the airlock 01' the action'of holding it at any given point in its ascent or descent, may be safely carried out'without interference from the rise and fall. of the boom due to the rolling motions of the sur face vessel in rough water. 7

When the outer end of the boom rises, the mercury34; will, act somewhat like a spring to assist in the upward movement of the counterweight, making it smoother and as the counterweight moves above the mercury and oil, its whole weight becomes effective in:

maintaining the desired tension in the hoisting cable. When the free end of the boom moves downwardly, the weight descends in the body of mercury and oil, its motion is gradually checked by the restricted upward flow of the air and the buoyancy in the movements, notwithstanding the fact that the a surface vessel may be rolling on account of the rough condition of the sea. The descendingzbody may, therefore,be raised or lowered steadily andthe cable for accomplishing it is not subjected to sudden strains due to the rollingor pitching of-thesurface vessel; It will be apparentthat the'cabfle 13 may be taken in or-paid out from the engine drum- Whether the surface vesselis quiescent or rolling, because the counterweight automatically maintains a substantially uniform tension on this cable, independent of the taking in or paying out of the same, for the raising or lowering of the diving air lock. It will be obvi'ous that any other type of body which is to be lowered in thewater may be controlled through the present apparatus by simply designing the counterweight in accordance with the negative buoyancy of the body which is to be handled. a r i Having described my invention, what I claim is: I v I 1. In a vessel, thecombination with a mast and a member projecting outwardly of said vessel, of a sheave carried by said member-1, a

RIM

flexible element'running over and: depending from said sheave, adapted to raise and lower a body exterior of the vessel, attached'thereto, means for operating said flexible element, a bight formed by said flexible element interposed between said sheave and said operating means, a vertical cylinder attached to said mast, a body of mercury atthe bottom of said cylinder, and a weight dependingfr'om said bight inserted Within and capable "of free Vertical displacement with respect to said cylinder. I i

2. In a vessel, the combination with a mast and a member projecting outwardly of'said vessel, of a sheave carried by said member, a flexible element running over and depending from said sheave, adapted to raise and lower a body exterior of the vessel, attached thereto, means for operating said flexible eleposition. 7

7 tached -thereto.

ment, a bight formed by said flexible element interposed between said sheave and said operating means, a vertical cylinder attached to said mast, an adjustable weight depending from said bight inserted within and capable of free vertical displacement with respect to said cylinder, and a body of mercury at the bottomof said cylinder.- 3. In a Vessel, the combination with a mast and a boom outwardly projecting therefrom, of a: sheave carried by said boom, aflexible element running over and depending from said sheave, adapted to raise and lower a body exterior of the vessel. attached thereto, means for operating said flexible element, a, bight formed by said flexible element interposed between said sheave and said operating means, a vertical cylinder attached to said mast, a body of mercury at the bottom of'said cylinder, and a weight depending from said bight inserted within and capable of free vertical displacement with respect to said cylinder, said weight being proportioned to exert a tension upon saidflexible element, slightly greater than that exert d by the body at 4. In a vessel, th'ecombination with a mast and a member projecting outwardly of said vessel, of a sheave carried by said member, a flexible element running over and depending from said sheave, adapted to raise and lower a body exterior of the vessel, attached thereto, means for operating said flexible element, a bight formed by said flexibleelement interposed between said sheave and said operating means, a 'verticalcylinder attached to said mast, a body of mercury at the bottom of said cylinder, and a weight depending from said bight within and capable of free vertical displacement with respect to said cylinder, said weight being proportioned to exert a tension upon said flexible element, slightly greater than that exerted by the body attached thereto, and being adapted to float within said mercury in its lowermost 5. In a vessel, means for raising and lowering a relatively heavy and bulky body fromthe vessel, including a mast having a boom, a hoisting apparatus associated with said mast and boom capable of handling the full weight of said body, said hoisting apcontrol the raising and lowering of said body when immersed within the water, and means for yieldinglymaintaining said second mentioned hoisting apparatus under tension permitting said vessel to pitch in relation to the body suspended from said apparatus without transmitting the motions of the vessel to said body.

6. [In a vessel, means for raising and lowering a relatively heavy and bulky body from the vessel, including a mast having a boom, a hoisting apparatus associated with said mast and boom capable ofhandling the full weight of said body, said hoisting apparatus being adapted to be disengaged from said body when the latter is lowered in the water, a second hoisting apparatus operating independently of and having a smaller lifting capacity than said first mentioned hoisting apparatus adapted tohold' and to control the raising and lowering ofsaid body when immersed within the water, and a movable weight cooperating with said second mentioned hoisting apparatus and'adapted to yieldingly maintain the same under tension and to permit said vessel to pitch in relation to said body without transmitting the motions of the vessel to said body.

' 7. The method of handling a relatively bulky object to be lowered or raised to or from and within'water froma vessel, which consists in suspending said object from a hoisting device capable of handling the full weight thereof when said object is being lowered or raised to or from the'water to the vessel, suspending said object from a hoisting device having a relatively smaller hoisting capacity and detaching it from said first mentioned hoisting device when said object is immersed,'and effecting vertical displacements of said body within the water exclusiv'ely by means of said second mentioned hoisting device.

8. The method of handling a relatively bulky object to be lowered or raised to or from and within water from a vessel, which consists in suspending said object from a hoisting device capable of handling thefull weight thereof when said object is being low ered or raised to or from the water to the vessel, suspending said object from a hoisting devicehaving a smaller hoisting capacity anddetaching it from said'flrst mentioned hoisting device when said object is immersed, eflectingvertical displacements of said body within the water exclusively by means of said second mentioned hoisting device, and counterbalancing the tensional difi'erences occurring in said second mentioned hoisting device dne to rolling movements of said vessel so as to leave substantially unafl'ected the vertical position of said object.

Signed at the city, county and State of New York, this 18th day of January, 1929.

JOHN F. OROURKE. 

